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Monday, August 9, 2010

Is it half full or half empty? - 60 Days of Summer Days 30

HALF WAY! From my perspective it is ceratinly half FULLI can’t believe that the project has reached the 30 day mark. Today I took a little step back and stayed out of the water and off the bike and running tracks to let my body heal up a bit as I have been suffering a little of late and I want to get back to top form. It has given me a great opportunity to reflect on the first half of the project and look ahead to the next 30 days.

So far I have been pleased, even amazed at how writing this blog has motivated me to get out there and make something happen. Even on days when the conditions have been far from perfect I have really had a great time on the water and I am sure that my sailing will be much better as a result in the next 30 days. I have been thrilled to hear from other water sports enthusiasts and how the blog has helped them and I have also been pleased to hear that non windsurfers have enjoyed my comments, pictures and video. The viewing figures are on a steady increase with nearly 3000 page views in the first month. Google Analytics has provided me with some very interesting and detailed information about visitor trends and I am motivated to know that my words have been read in 53 different countries. The most popular post so far was my Maui Race Series report followed closely by my look at Jimmie Hepp’s photography, I am using the viewing stats to help guide my writing so that future posts appeal to a wide audience and please get in contact if there is something that you feel I should write about.

Maui has been consistently windy recently and that has meant that I have actually spent more time windsurfing that expected. By my own admission I have not had a great variety of activities to write about and that is something that I will try to adjust as the upcoming days turn into weeks. In 29 possible sailing days so far I have taken 3 days off because of my cut foot otherwise I would have achieved a 100% windsurfing record but my current stats stand at 26 days windsurfing out of a possible 29 (one day was taken up with travel). This equates to a 90% record but, I am keen for this to edge back up towards 95%.

Last weekend's wind was one of the strongest days so far! Maxed on a 5.5 race sail. Here I am crashing during one of my heats at the first turn!

Early on I realised that I would need a fair amount of equipment as so far I have used; 3 wave boards, 2 slalom boards, 5 wave sails, 4 slalom sails, 5 masts, 3 booms a number of fins and 2 surfboards. With the 2010 MauiVMax GPS speed series about to kick off I have a speed board waiting to go once I have fixed it. In the coming weeks I hope to get out on the SUP, my 6’3” surfboard and would love to check out the Paia skate ramp! I will be trying out more 2011 sails and equipment so I expect my tallies to go up significantly.

Just some of the equipment that I have used so far!

What can you expect to be reading about in the coming weeks? Lots of windsurfing, Maui seems to be in a very stable weather pattern at the moment with more consistent summer wind (albeit not as strong as recent years) so I expect that there is a good chance that I will be on the board a lot. More surfing, I really want to get out on my surfboards a little more and think that I should be spending some time at Pavilions during early morning. SUP action, despite talk I am yet to make it onto an SUP board and that is something that I will address. Windfishing, I have been invited to go and it just needs a little organisation on my part to get that going, should be really interesting and a fun experience. More biking, I think that it is about time to hit some of the mountain trails, I have been waiting for a new part for the bike for 7days so that has slowed me down a bit. This is just an idea of some of the things that will be happening and I will be trying to write some standalone articles too. I will aim to provide more video and more images too.

To sum up, it has been a great start but there is plenty more to come. Please spread the word and pass on the link to others. Please leave your comments about posts and possible future posts as this will help me to improve what I write.

I will leave you today with my favourite shot of the day from Ho’okipa.